Vegan food makes men feel 'less manly, says report

Vegan food is not ‘manly’ which fewer men prefer to eat compared to women, says a recent study in which scientists read patterns in food choices of men and women. As per the study, men appear to be less inclined than women to forego meat in favor of a trendy vegan diet. For this, researchers polled 539 people and asked them to score four vegan meals on a scale of how suited they were for men or women. The vegan burger, carbonara, goulash, and salad were all described as more suitable for ladies than men. However, the study implies that if a vegan diet employed more red-blooded terminology, it may appear less emasculating to men. Half of the participants in the study were given masculine descriptors of the meal, such as a ‘beast burger’ rather than a ‘wow-factor burger,’ or a robust goulash rather than a gourmet goulash. The dish was characterized as smokey, fatty, and juicy, with the burger and carbonara coming in a’massive portion’ for ’even the greatest appetite’. People who were given macho descriptions of vegan dishes assessed them as less suited for women than men who were given neutral words such as ‘creamy’ and ‘wonderful’. This implies that more macho marketing of vegan foods may make them appear less girlie. However, even when vegan items were given macho names and descriptions, consumers judged the meals as marginally more suited for women than men. Unfortunately, they were no more likely to indicate they wanted to eat the vegan dish, were eager to try it, or felt it tasted nice. “Men may be less willing to consume vegan food due to the urge to appear macho,” said Alma Scholz, who led the study from the University of Würzburg but is currently based at Stockholm University. “Perhaps by using more male terminology to describe this cuisine, we could persuade men to consume it.” The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Communication, asked participants to rank the acceptability of vegan meals for men and women on a scale of one to seven. A score of four indicated that it was not particularly suitable for either sex, with higher scores indicating that it was more acceptable for males and lower scores indicating that it was more suitable for women. The average grade was 3.68 when a burger was described to half of the volunteers using neutral language. However, the rating improved to 3.98 from persons who described it in more masculine terms, implying that it was virtually considered as a meal suited for both men and women. According to the study findings, men appear to be particularly sensitive to whether food makes them look less of a man. When masculine adjectives were employed, women’s judgments of whether vegan food is more acceptable for males or females did not vary significantly, but men’s did. The authors of the study point out that meat is culturally associated with strength and masculinity, which may make a vegan diet difficult to promote.